Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: john@bovine.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: "Data Quality" Local Dial Lines Message-ID: <12375@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 20 Sep 90 07:30:22 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: John Higdon Organization: Green Hills and Cows Lines: 36 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 662, Message 1 of 10 On Sep 19 at 21:40, Rolf Meier writes: > Look, the real reason the telephone companies don't like you using a > "voice" line for "data" is the different traffic characteristics. Before we go around with this again, let me share with you a comment by a "deep throat" within Pac*Bell. The reason telcos want to charge you extra for "data" dialups is "revenue enhancement" -- no more, no less. It has nothing to do with traffic patterns (business usage is metered and charged anyway, and residential use occurs off-peak) or bandwidth considerations. It is just another in a long line of "extras" that the telco has managed to convince the PUC it has justification for grabbing more. Like voice usage, data usage is all over the map in terms of network usage. So please, let's not go making up a lot of garbage justifications for extra charges for lines used for data. > Why do you think a data line is a ripoff? A typical data call lasts a > lot longer than voice calls. This means that the Telco has to supply > more call paths in order to maintain the same grade of service. This > costs them money. It is only fair that the users of data lines pay > the extra. Local calls are charged for and timed. Isn't one charge enough? Or is data something "magic" that costs telco extra? What costs the telco more: a twenty-minute news delivery from my news feed, or a two-hour converstation by my neighbor's teen-aged daughter? See? Forget the authoritative declaration from a Pac*Bell "informant" -- the logic of the position fails as well. John Higdon | P. O. Box 7648 | +1 408 723 1395 john@bovine.ati.com | San Jose, CA 95150 | M o o !